Banner 11-18-21

The Hastings Banner — Thursday, November 18, 2021 — Page 13

County’s fastest girls finish season at MIS

Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
A trio of Thornapple Kellogg girls, fresh-
man Ava Crews, senior Jessica Durkee and
junior Emelia MacDonald concluded their
2021 fall season running in the MHSAA
Division 2 Lower Peninsula Cross Country
Championship the first Saturday in
November.
All three girls earned spots on this fall’s
All-Barry County Girls’ Cross Country First
Team, along with two other teammates. TK
had three other girls earn spots on the
all-county second team while winning the
title as Barry County’s top team once again.
It was a season where area girls had to
work to be at their best, and managed to get
there by the end of the season for the most
part. The TK girls finished in the middle of
the always tough OK Gold Conference.
Delton Kellogg’s girls had one of their
best Southwestern Athletic Conference fin-
ishes ever.
Lakewood worked to move up in the
Greater Lansing Activities Conference while
a pair of Maple Valley runners did their best
to improve in the GLAC pack.
Hastings started out the year shy of being
able to score team points, like the Lions, but
managed to build its numbers a bit to com-
pete for team scores at regionals and the
county meet as the season wound down.
In between regionals and the state finals, the
Barry County Meet was hosted by Maple
Valley High School Nov. 1. The top 14 runners
at the race earned all-county honors, with the
first seven across the finish line being named
to the all-county first team and the next seven
in to the all-county second team.
Here are the 2021 All-Barry County Girls’
Cross Country honorees.

All-Barry County
Girls’ Cross Country
First Team
Aubrey Aukerman, Delton Kellogg: The
Delton Kellogg senior ran the fastest race of
her life trying to earn a spot in the MHSAA
Division 3 Lower Peninsula Cross Country
Finals. She was just shy of earning a state
spot, placing 21st at the regional in Allendale
with a time of 21:09.0.
Aukerman was 11th at the SAC
Championship this fall with a time of
21:15.3. She closed out her senior by plac-
ing third at the Barry County Meet with a
time of 21:16.8.
Ava Crews, Thornapple Kellogg: A run-
ner-up three times at meets early in the sea-
son, the Trojan freshman took her first varsity
victory by winning the Barry County Meet
with a time of 20:27.6.
Crews capped off her year by running in
the MHSAA Division 2 Lower Peninsula
Cross Country Finals at Michigan
International Speedway in Brooklyn where
she placed 34th in 19:26.2. She set her PR at
the Portage Invitational where she hit the
finish line in 19:22.4.
Jessica Durkee, Thornapple Kellogg:
The Trojan senior finished off her final high
school cross country season by placing 149th
at the MHSAA Division 2 Lower Peninsula
Cross Country Finals. She ran to a time of
20:55.0 in what was her third finals perfor-
mance.
Durkee was the runner-up at the Barry
County Meet with a time of 21:08.2. Her
fastest time of the season was a 20:17.9 she
ran on a possibly short course at Kenowa
Hills mid-season, but she was right on that
time at the Otsego Bulldog Invitational a few
days later earning a mark of 20:19.5.
Emelia MacDonald, Thornapple
Kellogg: The Trojan junior battled through
all kinds of injuries to earn a second consec-
utive trip to the MHSAA Division 2 Lower
Peninsula Cross Country Finals at the end of
the season. MacDonald placed 138th at the
finals with a time of 20:49.2.
She placed fifth at the Barry County Meet
in 22:05.4, days after giving her all at her
team’s regional in Portage to qualify for the
state finals. Durkee placed 15th at regionals
in 20:43.6.
Halena Phillips, Delton Kellogg: Phillips
finished off an outstanding four varsity sea-
sons at Delton Kellogg by placing seventh at
the Barry County Meet with a time of 22:15.5.
Phillips placed 16th with a time of
21:44.5 at the Southwestern Athletic
Conference Championship in mid-October,
earning the best time of her senior season.
She had top ten finishes at Thornapple
Kellogg’s Coach B Invitational and at the
Berrien Springs Shamrock Invitational
early in the season.
Lucy VanDemark, Thornapple Kellogg:
Injuries forced a late start to her junior sea-
son, but VanDemark built to a solid finish.
She placed sixth at the Barry County Meet
running a season-best time of 22:08.0.
Her previous best time of the season as a
22:19.9 she ran at the OK Gold Conference
Championship in mid-October which put her
in 35th-place in the conference.

Holly Velting, Thornapple Kellogg: The

Trojan sophomore Velting ran a season-best

time of 21:08.5 at the 2021 Chargers Autumn

Sunrise Invitational in late September and

was right around that pace throughout the

remainder of the fall season.

She ran to a fourth-place finish at the Barry

County Meet with a time of 21:30.9. That

was on the heels of a 25th-place finish at the

OK Gold Conference Championship and a

34th-place finish at the Division 2 Regional

Meet in Portage the final weekend of October.

All-Barry County

Girls’ Cross Country

Second Team

Lilly Faurot, Maple Valley: Fighting

some injuries throughout the fall, Faurot ulti-

mately came up just short of earning a return

trip to the MHSAA Division 3 Lower

Peninsula Cross Country Finals, but it was

still an outstanding sophomore season.

Faurot placed ninth at each of the first two

Greater Lansing Activities Conference jambo-

rees of the season and then broke through for

a sixth-place finish at the GLAC Championship

in late October. She ran a season-best time of

21:30.4 on the GLAC Championship course

at Turkeyville. Faurot placed 11th at the Barry

County Meet in 22:39.0.

Reagan Lab, Lakewood: The Lakewood

leader throughout her junior call, Lab was

11 th at the first Greater Lansing Activities

Conference jamboree of the season, tenth at

the second and then ran to a season-best time

of 21:58.4 to place eighth at the GLAC

Championship at Turkeyville in late October.

Lab placed 12th at the Barry County Meet

in 22:43.5. Her top placing of the season

came at the Vikings’ Lakewood Invitational

Sept. 18 where she was sixth.

Melanie Monroe, Delton Kellogg: A

senior, Monroe shaved more than five min-

utes off her first time of the season by the end

of the year, her first with the DK varsity

girls’ cross country team. She set her PR at

23:06.5 at the Barry County Meet where she

placed 14th.

Monroe broke that 24-minute mark for the

first time at the Kalamazoo Christian Comet

Invitational Oct. 23 and bumped her time

down to 23:38.4 in a 46th-place finish at the

Division 3 Regional Meet in Allendale Oct. 30.

Lydia Schilthroat, Thornapple Kellogg:

Another Trojan who was at her best as the

season came to an end, Schilthroat placed

tenth at the Barry County Meet with a time of

22:33.8.

Schilthroat turned in a time of 22:56.77 to

place 39th at the OK Gold Conference

Championship and followed that up by taking

a couple more ticks off for a time of 22:49.

and a 59th-place finish at her team’s Division

2 Regional race.

Kendall Snyder, Thornapple Kellogg:

Snyder ran the best race of her senior season

to score a medal at the Barry County Meet

Nov. 1, placing 13th with a time of 22:58.2. It

was her second time finishing in less than 23

minutes this fall.

One of the county’s top runners, but not

quite at the front of the TK pack, Snyder ran

to a tenth-place finish in the JV race at the

OK Gold Conference Meet in mid-October.

Her top finish at a conference meet was 44th

at the race hosted by Cedar Springs in early

September.

Carissa Strouse, Hastings: One of the

Saxon leaders throughout her senior season,

Strouse placed eighth at the Barry County

Meet with a time of 22:27.7. One of her best

races of the season was the Interstate-

Athletic Conference jamboree the Saxons’

hosted at Charlton Park where she placed

13 th in 22:32.2.

Strouse was 22nd at the I-8 Championship

in late October and ran to a 53rd-place finish

at her team’s Division 2 Regional in Portage.

Lindsey Velting, Thornapple Kellogg:

Velting capped off her junior campaign with

the Trojans by running a ninth-place time of

22:33.5 at the Barry County Meet at the end

of the season.

Velting ran a season-best time of 22:00.4 at

the OK Gold Conference jamboree hosted by

Kenowa Hills and was at least as fast on a

more properly measured course at the

Division 2 regional in Portage where she

placed 50th with a time of 22:23.8 at the end

of the season.

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170977

PRAIRIEVILLE TOWNSHIP

BARRY COUNTY, MICHIGAN

NOTICE OF SPECIAL ASSESSMENT PUBLIC HEARING ON

SPECIAL ASSESSMENT ROLL

MERLAU AVENUE SPECIAL ASSESSMENT DISTRICT 2021-

TO: THE RESIDENTS AND PROPERTY OWNERS OF THE TOWNSHIP OF PRAIRIEVILLE, BARRY COUNTY, MICHIGAN,

OWNERS OF LAND WITHIN THE MERLAU AVENUE SPECIAL ASSESSMENT DISTRICT 2021-1 AND ANY OTHER INTERESTED

PERSONS:

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that the Township Supervisor and Assessor have prepared and filed in the office of the

Township Clerk for public examination a special assessment roll covering all properties within the MERLAU AVENUE

ASSESSMENT DISTRICT 2021-1 benefitted by the proposed road improvement project, which project will include paving of

the road, along with associated activities such as, but not limited to, grading and drainage work. The costs of the project

are as shown on the estimate of costs on file with the Township Clerk. The assessment roll has been prepared for the

purpose of assessing costs of the project within the aforesaid special assessment district, as is more particularly shown on

plans on file with the Township Clerk at the Township Hall, 10115 S. Norris Road, within the Township. The assessment roll

is in the total amount of $337,218.06. The costs, including administrative costs, are proposed to be raised by a new special

assessment. The assessment against each parcel in the special assessment district will be approximately $313.40 per year,

for a period of four years, 2022 – 2025 inclusive. Additionally, the Township Board reserves the right to levy a lesser

assessment in any year that there are more funds in the special assessment district fund than the amount needed.

PLEASE TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that the Supervisor and Assessing Officer have reported to the Township Board

that the assessment against each parcel of land within said District is such relative portion of the whole sum levied against

all parcels of land in said District as the benefit to such parcel bears to the total benefit to all parcels of land in said District.

PLEASE TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that the Prairieville Township Board will meet at the Prairieville Township Hall,

10115 S. Norris Road, Delton, Michigan, on Tuesday, November 30, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. for the purpose of

reviewing the special assessment roll and hearing any objections thereto. The roll may be examined at the office of the

Township Clerk during regular business hours of regular business days until the time of the hearing and may further be

examined at the hearing.

PLEASE TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that an owner or party in interest, or his/ her agent, may appear in person at the

hearing to protest the special assessment or may file his/her appearance and protest by letter before the hearing, and in

that event, personal appearance shall not be required. Any person objecting to the assessment roll shall file his/her

objection thereto in writing with the Township Clerk before the close of the hearing or within such other time as the

Township Board may grant. The owners or any person having an interest in real property who protests in writing at or

before the hearing may file a written appeal of the special assessment with the State Tax Tribunal within 30 days after

confirmation of the special assessment roll.

Prairieville Township will provide necessary reasonable auxiliary aids and services, such as signers for the hearing

impaired and audio tapes of printed material being considered at the hearing, to individuals with disabilities at the hearing

upon seven (7) days’ notice to the Prairieville Township Clerk at the address below

Rod Goebel, Clerk

Prairieville Township

10115 S. Norris Road

Delton, MI 49046

(269) 623-

171608

Position Opening

The Barry County Administrator is accepting appli-

cations for a full time Payroll and Human Resources

Specialist to perform all duties for payroll and taxes,

including filing related records, and handling report-

ing and compliance functions. Duties also include

various human resources tasks including employ-

ee benefit enrollments, and processing claims for

WC, FMLA leave, and disability. Prefer PHR and/

or SHRM-CP Certification, and MIOSHA Level One

Certificate. The base pay rate is $22.31 per hour.

Please send a cover letter, resume and completed

job application form to: Michael Brown, County Ad-

ministrator, Barry County Administration, 220 West

State Street, Hastings, MI 49058. An application

and job description is available at http://www.barrycounty.

org, or by contacting Barry County Administration,

269-945-1284, [email protected].

Deadline for applying: Open until filled.

The 2021 All-Barry County Girls' Cross Country Team. First team members are (front from left) Ava Crews, Jessica Durkee,

Aubrey Aukerman, Holly Velting, Emelia MacDonald, Lucy VanDemark and Halena Phillips. Second team members are (back from

left) Carissa Strouse, Lindsey Velting, Lydia Schilthroat, Lilly Faurot, Reagan Lab, Kendall Snyder and Melanie Monroe.

Thornapple Kellogg freshman Ava

Crews ran to a championship at the 2021

Barry County Meet. (File photo)